Health officials say the man most likely contracted variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in the United Kingdom. However, he began to show symptoms while living in Houston, so he will be listed as a U.S. case, reports The Associated Press
"Almost certainly, this case represents a continuation of the outbreak that is going on in the United Kingdom," said Lawrence B. Schonberger, a CDC medical epidemiologist.
After living in Houston for four years, the man returned to the UK earlier this year. He is receiving medical treatment there.
The disease is contracted by eating the brain or other nervous system tissue of an animal infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy.
The first documented U.S. case was a British woman living in Florida. She was also believed to have contracted the disease in Britain. She died last year, Schonberger said.
